my name is ruth, hello.

My final assesment for my project Map Your City is on either Tuesday or Wednesday, so in four or five days I will be finished uni forever. I cannot wait.

I have been practising my presentation for a couple of days now and I feel ready for it. I just want it to come now!

I recently updated my website wwwruthtullis.com 

Check it out. It features my recent projects as well as past projects, and shows off my other interests outside of uni.

So nearly finished!

Map Your City. My honours project video explaining the project.

Another fine example of the work Product Design at Dundee University can produce.

FRASER SPOWART  

TWEET_FIT

“My product is designed to encourage people to exercise at home. Its universal design allows it to be easily attached to any dumbbell.

The device has two main functions, an offline and online mode. The offline mode has been designed to guide the user through the perfect bicep curl. Once this is mastered the online mode can be activated.

To activate the online mode you simply pick up the dumbbell with the device attached, doing this will send a message to your twitter feed indicating you have began to exercise. You will be notified that the message has been sent by green lights flashing. Once you have finished your exercise and put the dumbbell down again another tweet will be sent indicating the end of your exercise. Red lights will flash to indicate a second tweet has been sent.

This product could be used effectively by fitness instructors to keep an eye on their clients when they are at home and could also be used as a fun competition between friends on twitter” 

F.spowart@gmail.com

Twitter - FraserI_Spowart

 As a gym user, I can see the benefits in this project. I have previously injured myself due to exercising wrongly at home, and on of the advantages of this idea is knowing that you are working out the right way. It would also get people more active, with the tweets going out, you can’t lie and exaggerate your work out, and it can push healthy competition between people.

This project highlights an area that many people use as an excuse, “I don’t know how to do it.” By allowing the user to learn the correct way it brings the users confidence up and can get them involved in their workout.

For more information, visit Frasers website.

www.fraserspowart.com/

In the four years at uni studying Digital Interaction Design, we worked closely with Product Design, our sister course throughout the four years. They are also working towards their Degree Show right now, and I thought I would blog about a couple of projects that have been getting great media attention, and show off the work the Product Design course can create.

THE ELYMAS PREDICTION TABLE

ADAM HUNTINGTON

“The Elymas table is a side table that can offer you a small, indefinite glimpse into your future. The premise of the Elymas table is simple. Turn the dial to your desired category, press the button, and receive a small piece of paper with a brief prophecy on it. Read it and take it in, does it reassure or warn you? The table’s stark power is belied by the utilitarian functionalism of its design. The beauty of this table is that anyone can use it; it simply requires a small level of thought and contemplation.

The table stemmed from researching comic book superheroes and their powers, specifically prophecy and future sight. This was used as the inspiration to create something that could give the user the ability to see into the future. The gift of prophecy is steeped in both religious and mythological history, but even if this is not known the user will admire the clarity of the simple concept and the ease of use.

The Elymas Table was handcrafted from far eastern plywood. The majority of the features were made using hand tools, giving the table a sense of personality and honesty that most furniture and products do not have.”

Adam Huntington

m. 07883625541

 www.adamhuntington.com

e. adam.hunts1@gmail.com

This project reminds me of horoscopes. Everyone always says horoscopes are a waste of time and never right, but why do people still read them? It’s the guilty pleasure. It may give them the hope that something good will happen, or the reassurance of a recent decision. Everyone wants to know what the future will bring, and with this table, anyone can have a go in a lighthearted way.

I really like how the research started and ended in what seems completely different areas, but is in fact related and in the end produced a great project that plays with the users mind in a fun, but thought provoking lighthearted manner.

Visit Adam’s site for more details.

www.adamhuntington.com

“Maps are probably the strongest invention after the wheel” (Firket, N, 2008) 

Maps should be a tool that connects you to a city. Instead they navigate you from A to B.

Map Your City allows the user to create a personal map to interact with a city allowing the user to gain a unique experience and memory of a city. The map creates a personal interaction for the user to engage with places of interest.

Researching my dissertation in New York led me to focus and design my personal interactive map on the city. Map Your City helps you interact with the geography of New York City in a personal way.

… I have completely abandoned this blog. I said to myself, despite my last year of uni coming to an end in a couple of weeks, I would keep this blog up to date with stuff I like, and write to take my mind off uni. Well it turns out there is no time to take my mind off uni, and for the last 2 months, uni and my project have all I thought about.

But now, today, I suddenly realised I am out of the fog that was the stress, anxiety, panic, even more stress, and come out the other end with a project I am actually pleased with. Over the last few months I have written my first design proposal highlighting the areas of my project I am focusing on and what I intended to create, made sheets researching into different design aspects of my project, as well as different technologies I could have used. I spent one month simply researching my project in order to know for certain I was creating a project I knew through and through, and looked into multiple areas which allowed me to make sure I was designing something I was 100% happy with. I planned the making process so I could keep all the areas of the project I was making together, as to not let one area fall back (despite me not liking some parts!) I then I made. I made 2 maps, from scratch. Traced them, scanned them, vectorised them, then designed them. I then designed a brochure for the user to use and visualise their map. I created an animation of the online stage of my project, as well as a working prototype for users to interact with. I then began to film, edit and produce a video showing my project in action, along with 100 words de scripting my project and why I chose my project. I took 500 photos to pick just one photo for my one great image. I am now in the process of bringing it all together for Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design Degree Show 2011. Four years of practice has brought me to this stage. Words cannot describe how scared I am, but I feel proud of what I’ve managed to accomplish. 

So what is my project I have spent over a year researching and working on? My next post will reveal all! (bet everyone can’t wait…)

I have completely neglected this blog for the last month which has been busy filled up with uni work and a few trips to see some friends. 

Uni has taken over my life. I knew it would, but the work I have to do is on crazy amounts. We are in our Make Phase now in our project, which gives us 6 weeks to make everything involved in our project. So, for me that is make the map and make the flash website prototype. Sounds simple. It is not!

The map involves vectorising the Manhattan map I had traced which meant going over the whole map and outlining it all. It took the best part of 4-5 days, but it is completed and now I am adding in street names and parks to the map. I still have to create icons for parks, points on the map, and illustrate landmarks to put onto the map.

With flash I have split it into two parts for both Make Phases; Make Mark One I will concentrate on the design and interaction of the website. Make Mark Two I will concentrate on the content for the website. So far, flash is proving to be more difficult than I expected, and I am having a lot of problems with it. It never works for me, so been having a lot of help of my friends to help me along with it.

I also visited my friends in Inverness for the weekend and a day in Aberdeen, which I really enjoyed. Took some photos in Inverness of the freezing cold river while we were waiting on Dolphins, which did not show! I hope to get round to putting the photos on my laptop and eventually onto my blog!

I do plan on getting back into blogging. I aim to blog once a week, but it never happens. This will happen now!

Today was reasonable okay today. Got good feedback with my blog I have been working on over Christmas. I was the only one who really blogged over the holidays. I only did it because it helped me with my thought process, not to get the best blog in the class, but I am happy I was told it was decent!

Have a few other things to look into my project, typography and experiences in New York which so far are really interesting to look into. Going to set myself some targets to do each week.

Now off to talk to my old flatmate who know lives in Sweden for a semester, very exciting!